Making Money: Pumpkin Carvers

“People don’t always realize that pumpkin carving is a business,” says Marc Evan, the co-founder of Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, who carves hundreds of pumpkins every fall with his partner, Chris Soria. Evan and Soria started out etching pumpkins for local bars and clubs in 2008; word spread, and their clients now include big brands like Dos Equis and the New York Botanical Garden.

Evan and Soria, artists by trade, say that it was a challenge to turn their love of pumpkins into a successful business. Early on, they charged a flat rate of fifty dollars a pumpkin, even if they were spending many hours on a single piece. Now they have a small support staff and a pricing scheme that accounts for their time and materials, allowing them to turn a profit: pumpkins now cost between a hundred and fifty and five hundred dollars, depending on the level of detail of the design.

The pumpkin is an “ephemeral medium,” though, as Soria puts it: once it gets its first cut, it quickly begins to break down and lasts for a few weeks, at most. But, even though the most elaborate carvings are destined for a dumpster, Evan and Soria feel that this constraint is what makes their art special. It also means that their customers will have to come back next year.